Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween Dyefest

I had an amazing day yesterday at Elizabeth Barton's studio helping her use up the season's end dyestock. We worked and talked, talked and work all day. I tried to teach her Janome to like metallic threads to no avail and got to be the first to see her latest work which I will only describe here as awesome.

I know it can be folly to post
"wet" pictures (before the washout) of dyed cloth but I have a good feeling that most of this bunch will stay strong.

 I hung the buggy oatmeal bunch outside to dry out first - I don't think I want to run oatmeal and bugs through my washing machine.  These three spectacular pieces are a cotton jacquard that has a patterns of leaves and flowers woven in.
This is one fourth of a king sized sheet that I picked up at Goodwill. Gorgeous but I suspect that although the label said 100% cotton, there is some manufacturers process that may be resisting the dye. This one may be a lot paler after washing. 

There are also a whole lot of miscellaneous cotton scraps of all types bagged up and waiting their turn. No trick or treating for me today. I'll be washing and ironing!

4 comments:

Catherine V. Bainbridge said...

Well, that sure was productive! Actually I think the paler one is my favorite and can't wait to see what it looks like when washed. But I also really like the rust and ink colored one in the first image. It was a treat to see your latest tricks.

arlee said...

the bottom one is magnificent---please let it stay vivid! your magic worked on this would be awesome--very mediterranean fresco looking too

Heartwideopen said...

Oooh, I love the green!!!!!! I've been looking for greens all over my stash with much disappointment. I stopped looking and concentrated on another area of the cloth I'm working on. But eventually I have to find some greens. The bottom cloth looks absolutely lovely! And my third favorite one is in the top photo. The lovely rusty one with the dark splotches like muddy paw prints!

;~) Debi

Robin Olsen said...

Love the speckles you are getting here. They are all luscious.